When you live in an area surrounded by some of the top universities in the country, commencement tickets are hot items. Dr. Ben Carson’s speech was going to be one I was looking forward to hearing. My friend’s husband was planning on giving him an extra ticket, but I guess I won’t need it because Ben Carson is no longer the commencement speaker this year at Johns Hopkins. The students at Johns Hopkins started a petition to have Carson replaced after he made controversial statements in regards to gay marriage. Dr. Carson made mention of bestiality and pedophilia while arguing against gay marriage in a TV interview:

“[Traditional marriage is] a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group — be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are — they don’t get to change the definition,” Carson said in the Fox News interview, referring to the North American Man/Boy Love Association, which seeks to overturn pedophilia laws.

Dr. Carson withdrew from his commencement duties via an email to the dean of Johns Hopkins:

Given all the national media surrounding my statements as to my belief in traditional marriage, I believe it would be in the best interests of the students for me to voluntarily withdraw as your commencement speaker this year. My presence is likely to distract from the true celebratory nature of the day. Commencement is about the students and their successes, and it is not about me.

Regardless of his political sentiments, it would have been interesting to hear a speech from someone who has accomplished so much in his medical career.

No one is opposed to Ben Carson for opposing gay marriage. What made the student body outraged is the fact that he likened gay and relationships to the moral equivalent to bestiality and pedophilia. As a professor at a university that prides itself on being inclusive and a university with a diverse student body, many people were offended. It wasn’t just gay folks. The majority of the student body did not want him to speak at their graduation.

Ben Carson’s foray into politics has been an epic fail and I am sorry that he has decided to tarnish his legacy by dipping his toe into this foolishness. He doesn’t realize that republicans are using him as a puppet and now he is losing the respect of folks like me who believe in equality and fairness when it comes to gay rights.

Your comment also makes me laugh because lord knows that whenever black people are offended, we are the first ones to jump down someone’s throat, but let gay people be offended and the world is suffering from political correctness. We can’t have it both ways people. If Ben Carson likened black people to a bunch of pedophiles and folks who enjoy bestiality, I guarantee that you would be up in arms. Hypocrisy is not cute.

I leave you with this quote from Corretta Scott King…”
Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.”

While it’s true that no group should be discriminated against, it does not mean that you should be bullied by the media into changing your belief system. Just like you want people to respect your beliefs it should also be respected if someone does not believe in gay marriage. We are a country built on respecting differences including lifestyles and opinions. It is now turning into that if you do not think or believe the way that others do, then you are instantly homophobic. While there are extremists, for the majority this simply isn’t true. The word homophobia means that you have a fear. I dare to argue that many people, again not the extremists, if you were to ask them, do not have a fear but simply do not disagree with the lifestyle. We must respect that we will not all agree on the topic and be ok with that. I find it also disheartening that you said it was hypocrisy, comparing it to racism. While there may be some similarities that can be drawn it is nothing like being of a particular race. Race is an outward feature that can not be denied at any time. It is a garment that always shows and is seen long before you open your mouth. I could go on further to make my argument but the end all is that we must respect when someone has different opinions and not crucify them due to different beliefs. Is this not a country based on freedom of religion? Not to use it as a crutch but to simply make an argument of respecting varying opinions. Not hypocrisy. Your word choice was poor in context.

Pseudonym

Also, to add to WOMP’s statement, just as you think Ben Carson has the right to express his views, people have the right to express their views about his views- which is what happened. He may oppose gay marriage and think it’s appropriate to compare it to bestiality, but then Hopkins students do not have to support or celebrate someone who opposes gay marriage and things it’s appropriate to compare it to bestiality.

Again. for the fiftieth millionth time, BEING GAY AND BLACK IS NOT THE SAME THING. Okay? We all get that. I am sick of black people and our infantile need to point that out. Everyone knows that. The point is exactly what Corretta Scott King articulated in that quote that I referenced. It is all discrimination. That’s the point.

Furthermore, no one is bullying anyone into believing anything. Ben Carson can believe whatever he wants to believe. He will have to deal with the consequences of those beliefs. That’s life. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. If you go around comparing gays to pedophiles and people who boink animals, you will have to deal with the consequences. I am not shedding a tear for him.

Deb

LOL WOMP, I doubt he cares about having your tears. Why would he be upset about not speaking at a forum that vehemently disagrees with his views. I think most people who are against gay marraige are becoming aware of what they face when they speak out about their views. Anyways, both parties are probably happy with the result in this situation. Moving on.

Owlman5678

He thought he was one of the Guys. He not.

Self Preservation First

How can a community or anyone a part of that community embrace at practice that is essentially genocide?

At what point does a communities self preservation take presidence over a groups demands and a political parties ideology? 60% of blacks gay men have HIV aby 40. An educated guess can assume that it’s close to or over 70% by the time they’re 50. 1 in 32 black women now have HIV. If that’s not genocide then what is. Do you all think whites would be embracing Gay marriage if they had these HIV rates?

1) 80 percent of those infected with HIV worldwide are heterosexual
2) HIV has nothing to do with being gay. It has everything to do with having sex without a condom and having multiple partners. Yes, it is easier for gay men to contract the disease, but if they wear condoms, they reduce their risk tremendously. The gay white male community has reduced their HIV/Rates by damn near 50 percent over the past 20 years.
3) Lesbians have the lowest HIV/Aids rates – are lesbians not homosexuals?
4) What does gay marriage have to do with HIV? What does HIV have to do with gay men and women being able to enter into a legally binding relationship that is federally recognized?
5) If the supposed genocide that is being caused by HIV in the black community is such a threat, then what about all the other threats to the black community? Should we ban black men from being able to marry because they commit the most violent crimes in the US? Black men are killing each other left and right on street corners in the US…that’s genocide. Don’t get me wrong, HIV is a serious issue. But, the black community has about 100 other issues that are leading to our demise. Black women have the highest rate of abortion in this country…using your logic, is that not genocide?
6) Gay black men have the highest rates of HIV…I wonder why? Studies show that when gay men are accepted by their families and friends, they are less likely to get HIV. When you are rejected by your family, friends, church and community, you are less likely to value your life and you take more risks.
7) You make no sense.

DLB

You are full of crap. Whether a gay black man is accepted by his family or not, is no excuse for not using some type of protection. Stop your foolishness & make some sense! Also, many so-called heterosexual males intentionally & continually having sex with males (whether it was agreed to or they forced it on a male child) are gay (bisexual or really homosexual). Ben Carson had every right to speak at Hopkins regardless of how a few people might have felt. Whether you accept it or not, or think (ohhh) it is racist or (ohhh) homophobic, a perversion is a perversion (any acts of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexual, pedophilia, beastuality, etc.). Those students who started the petition will reap what they have sown.

My question when people make these kinds of comparisons is if a homosexual relationship is the same as a pedophile/victim “relationship”, who’s the pedophile and who’s the child? Or in the bestiality comparison, which one’s the human in the relationship and which one’s the animal? I especially would like to know the answer from people who make these kinds of comparisons while being friends or family members of homosexuals in relationships because you have to be able to see one or the other as a child or animal to be able to equate sex with him/her to pedophilia/bestiality, right? I won’t act like I understand homosexuality, but these insults/counterarguments just seem inflated.

Tara

To those visiting this site, most regular commenters here are not homophobic…